การนำเสนอเพศสภาพผ่านโฆษณาเครื่องดื่มเพื่อสุขภาพทางโทรทัศน์

Abstract

The objectives of the study “Gender Portrayals in Television Functional Drink Advertisements” were to find out how gender is portrayed in television functional drink advertisements, to find out how gender is portrayed in terms of characters and power, as well as to reveal what the ideology of gender is that is presented. This study was a qualitative research focused on a total of 23 television functional drink advertisements which were broadcast in 2011, including 12 advertisements with male presenters and 11 with female presenters. This study used Critical Discourse Analysis as the main theoretical framework. This study used the three dimensional framework of Fairclough: text, discursive practice, and social practice along with other frameworks which were: objectification to analyze how females were portrayed, camera techniques to analyze how males and females were portrayed through different shots, and signs to interpret the direct meaning and the indirect meaning of texts. The results of the study show the different portrayal of gender in television functional drink advertisements in terms of characters and power. Firstly, the different portrayals of males and females can be divided into filming of body parts, choice of attire, and the portrayal of jobs and leisure activities. In filming of body parts, males and females were portrayed as whole body, upper torso, or head. However, females were portrayed as body parts, shown without the face being visible, something which was not found in male portrayals. In the filming of attire, male portrayals frequently wore casual attire and suits as signs of leadership and masculinity. In contrast, female portrayals frequently wore close-fitting or skin-tight attire and dresses as signs of femininity. The portrayal of the jobs and the leisure activities of males were clearly depicted as opposed to the portrayal of these with females. In the portrayal of jobs and leisure activities, the portrayal of males had clear reference to job and activities. In contrast, only two of advertisements portrayed females with reference to working; the rest have reference to other activities. Males are portrayed in working roles while females are portrayed in decorative roles. Secondly, there were different portrayals of males and females as to power. Portrayal of male power was found in television functional beverages advertisements which had females as main characters. Male characters had power to control females’ decisions and actions and male narrators had power determine the ideal of beauty. Moreover, the results show that the advertisers used different camera techniques to portray males and females differently. Females were portrayed by denial of their subjectivity, females’ feelings and experiences were not focused on, and females were treated as tools for the purposes of the advertisers. These results reflect inequality between male and female in television functional drink advertisements. This study will enable an understanding of portrayal of gender in selected Thai advertisements in order to raise the awareness among readers of the differences in treatment and the inequalities which occur in Thai media.